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(theme from) The Monkees
"(Theme from) The Monkees" was written by Tommy Boyce and Bobby Hart as the theme song to the television series The Monkees, opening every episode. A different version of the song opened The Monkees' first album, The Monkees, for which stereo and mono mixes were issued. Though originally released only as an album track in the United States, it was released as a single in Australia in August 1967, backed with "Saturday's Child". Its first appearance as a single in the U.S. was on Bell's Flashback imprint as the B-side to a reissue of "Last Train to Clarksville" in 1973. The song was also included as the B-side of 1986's "That Was Then, This Is Now" single. LA Times has included it in an article about the "price" of a variety of songs and places its "monetary value" at over $120,000.http://bit.ly/146s2Ph -link Studio Mixes In the fall of 1965, before The Monkees had even been cast, Boyce and Hart recorded a version of the theme song, which was used in the series pilot alongside their recordings of "Let's Dance On" and two versions of "I Wanna Be Free". The first version of the song recorded by the Monkees took place in 1966, produced by Boyce and Hart. It would remain unused during the Colgems era. Boyce and Hart produced a third session on 5 July 1966, which would result in the album version of the song, with the Monkees recording their vocals two weeks later. The Boyce- and Hart-produced TV version of the song was recorded on 6 August 1966. All recordings took place at RCA Victor Studios. Due to Italian television rules that required theme songs to be performed in Italian, Micky Dolenz recorded a version of the song with Italian lyrics, titled "Tema dei Monkees " which was also released as an album track and as a single in Italy. The Italian translation is credited to "Nistri", possibly Carlo Nistri, who was a producer at RCA Italiana at the time of the Monkees.Discografia Nazionale della canzone italiana credits early version vocals: Micky Dolenz, Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart guitar: Wayne Erwin, Gerry McGee, Louie Shelton bass: Larry Taylor drums: Billy Lewis percussion: Gene Estes (tambourine) album version vocals: Micky Dolenz (lead); Wayne Erwin, Tommy Boyce, Bobby Hart (backing) guitar: Wayne Erwin, Gerry McGee, Louie Shelton bass: Larry Taylor organ: Bobby Hart drums: Billy Lewis percussion: Gene Estes (tambourine) TV version vocals: Micky Dolenz guitar: Wayne Erwin, Gerry McGee bass: Larry Taylor drums: Billy Lewis percussion: Gene Estes (tambourine) mono early version *''The Monkees'' (1994) — Rhino R2 71790 (CD) *''The Monkees'' (2006) — Rhino R2 77678 (2 CDs) mono album version *''The Monkees'' (1966) — Colgems COM-101 (LP) *''The Monkees'' (2006) — Rhino R2 77678 (2 CDs) stereo album version *''The Monkees'' (1966) — Colgems COS-101 (LP) *''Barrel Full of Monkees'' (1971) — Colgems SCOS-1001 (2 LPs) *''Re-Focus'' (1972) — Bell 6801 (LP) *''Greatest Hits'' (1976) — Arista 4089 (LP) *''Then and Now... The Best of the Monkees'' (1986) — Arista AL9-8432 (CD) *''Listen to the Band'' (1991) — Rhino R 70566 (4 CDs) *''The Monkees'' (1994) — Rhino R2 71790 (CD) *''Greatest Hits'' (1995) — Rhino R2 72190 (CD) *''Anthology'' (1998) — Rhino R2 75269 (2 CDs) *''Music Box'' (2001) — Rhino R2 76706 (4 CDs) *''The Best of the Monkees'' (2003) — R2 73875 (2 CDs) *''The Monkees'' (2006) — Rhino R2 77678 (2 CDs) *''The Monkees'' (2011) — Rhino (CD) mono TV version *''Television's Greatest Hits Volume II'' (1986) — TeeVee Toons TVT 1200 (LP) *''Television's Greatest Hits Volume II'' (1986) — TeeVee Toons TVT 1200CD (CD) *''Missing Links Volume 3'' (1996) — Rhino R2 72153 (CD) *''The Monkees'' (2006) — Rhino R2 77678 (2 CDs) Tema dei Monkees — single version *''Monkee Business'' (1982) — Rhino RNLP-701 (LP) Tema dei Monkees — album version *''Missing Links Volume 3'' (1996) — Rhino R2 72153 (CD) *''Headquarters'' (2007) — Rhino R2 77760 (2 CDs) backing track *''The Best of the Monkees'' (2003) — Rhino R2 73875 (2 CDs) Lyrics album version Here we come Walkin' down the street We get the funniest looks from Everyone we meet Hey, hey, we're the Monkees And people say we monkey around But we're too busy singin' To put anybody down We go wherever we want to Do what we like to do We don't have time to get restless There's always something new Hey, hey, we're the Monkees And people say we monkey around But we're too busy singin' To put anybody down We're just tryin' to be friendly Come and watch us sing and play We're the young generation And we've got somethin' to say Anytime Or anywhere Just look over your shoulder Guess who'll be standin' there Hey, hey, we're the Monkees And people say we monkey around But we're too busy singin' To put anybody down Whaa! One time! Hey, hey, we're the Monkees And people say we monkey around But we're too busy singin' To put anybody down We're just tryin' to be friendly Come and watch us sing and play We're the young generation And we've got somethin' to say Hey, hey, we're the Monkees Hey, hey, we're the Monkees Hey, hey, we're the Monkees... TV version Here we come Walkin' down the street We get the funniest looks from Everyone we meet Hey, hey, we're the Monkees And people say we monkey around But we're too busy singin' To put anybody down We're just tryin' to be friendly Come and watch us sing and play We're the young generation And we've got somethin' to say Hey, hey, we're the Monkees You never know where we'll be found So you better get ready We may be comin' to your town Tema dei Monkees Ecco qua passiamo noi e la gente ci guarda ed ammir con voi Ci chiamano i Monkees e siamo meno matti di chi si crede più intelligente di noi che la pensiamo cosí Dovunque parliamo non è giusto mai c'è sempre qualcuno che ne sa più di noi Ci chiamano i Monkees e siamo meno matti di chi si crede più intelligente di noi che la pensiamo cosí Ci chiamano i Monkees Ci chiamano i Monkees Ci chiamano i Monkees... See Also *The Monkees discography *''The Monkees'' (album) *''The Monkees'' (television series) Around the Web *Wikipedia *Allmusic *The Monkees Mixography **album version **unused version **TV version *The Monkees Sessionography *The Monkees Music Vault *[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8hQt_sOxaA The Monkees title sequence] *Lyrics Theme from The Monkees Theme from The Monkees References